First of all it's a place to have all your ships and stored modules gathered that travels with you, even to Colonia or anywhere in deep space. Second it's a gigantic cargo box. You can use that to move large quantities of goods over long distances while only having a short haul to and from the carrier at the source and destination. If mining is your thing, you can find yourself a nice out of the way pristine spot where you can mine and fill the carrier. Then you also have the option to wait a little if sell prices for what you mined are not to your liking, meanwhile the stuff stays put on your carrier as long as it has to. You can also use it as a tradepost, buying stuff from sources nearby, people will be happy to fill your carrier that way. Jump somewhere where the goods can be sold high, then sell them at a little less but still more than what you bought them for. You can also shift cargo from a large ship to a medium one as needed, depending if you want to interact with a station or an outpost. Last not least it's a place to repair, refuel and rearm, as well as conveniently redeem bounties or exploration/exobiology data. Sadly it doesn't offer interstellar factor services.
Indeed they're useful and it would be nice to have one, though you shouldn't have to sell your first born for the right to own one!
As I said before, most "normal" players will NEVER have enough credits to buy one.
Despite playing the game since the PS4 versions' launch, (As said, indeed a little less regularly in the last two years, but I played it a lot before that)...
I "only" have about 2 billion in assets and about 1.2 billion in credits, while most of those credits are left over from one O.P. C.G. pay out about a year ago.
All in, I'll probably never own one unless they slash their purchase and outfitting prices
.The recent Tritium CG made many new carrier owners, there will be new chances for quick credits.
Well you can't always avail of such windfalls unless you're in the right place at the right time, for example if you want to go exploring and or get little time to play the game...
Personally I just outfitted my Anaconda for long range exploration for the first time, and am currently about 1,500 light years from the bubble, when I'd never been more than 1,000 light years from it before this...
I'm planning to travel at least the 5,000 light years needed to unlock Professor Palin when I'm at it...
With the amount of time I get to play, it took me the best part of a week to get out this far, while it'll probably take me about two weeks to get 5,000 light years out, then about two weeks back, so if they are any nice C.G.s in the next month, I won't be taking part in them...
Long story short, it's too hard to make the sort of money carriers demand for most of us, while still an unfair cost and investment for even those that did pay for them already
.
Well you can't always avail of such windfalls unless you're in the right place at the right time, for example if you want to go exploring and or get little time to play the game...
Personally I just outfitted my Anaconda for long range exploration for the first time, and am currently about 1,500 light years from the bubble, when I'd never been more than 1,000 light years from it before this...
I'm planning to travel at least the 5,000 light years needed to unlock Professor Palin when I'm at it...
With the amount of time I get to play, it took me the best part of a week to get out this far, while it'll probably take me about two weeks to get 5,000 light years out, then about two weeks back, so if they are any nice C.G.s in the next month, I won't be taking part in them...
Long story short, it's too hard to make the sort of money carriers demand for most of us, while still an unfair cost and investment for even those that did pay for them already
Took me months to get hold of one (I didn't want to do it by diamond mining) and that was with 2 years worth of knowledge on how to earn credits. It's a game that involves very long term goals.
But then I remember the days of looking at a Python and thinking there was no possible way I'd ever be able to afford that and there was definitely no way I was flying out to Jacques station. Now my Python is just one of over 30 ships I have, all of them parked around Colonia You might be thinking the same thing now as I was then.
what trips this argument up is this idea of fairness.
the carrier costs X amount of credits, a reward given for completing certain tasks in a manner that is publicly known prior to embarking on any gameplay.
If you choose to play in away that gets you few credits per time playing, then it will take you longer to acquire a carrier than players who have chosen to play in manners that get them a lot of credits per time playing. Sometimes that's a choice in activity, and in rare instances it's a matter of being better at the gameplay involved. Limiting your game time is also going to increase the real world time it takes to acquire a carrier.
The idea of if different activities are fairly rewarded in credits is irrelevant to carriers.
The idea that every player regardless of how they play should have everything available in the game within their grasp is most definitely not fair though.
There exists no reality where a time limited player participating in the same game loops that everyone else is should not take longer in real time to achieve goals and collect rewards. And there is nothing about carriers that would restrict that longer time from being impractical to that player. And there is positive gameplay value in that being the case for certain items like carriers.
Where the game falls flat on it's face is that it provides no game loops where a time limited player who may have decent skill, can leverage that mastery of the game to achieve goals in less time by participating in more complex (harder) game loops in the various roles the game has.
So the game is unfair to players with time restrictions. But the solution that is often implied by such complaints is to buff or nerf the existing game loops in a way that only damages existing gameplay (or reducing it). The real solution is that additional skill based game loops are needed to be layered on the roles in the game so that "time to play" isn't a sole determining factor in reaching goals and objectives.
the carrier costs X amount of credits, a reward given for completing certain tasks in a manner that is publicly known prior to embarking on any gameplay.
If you choose to play in away that gets you few credits per time playing, then it will take you longer to acquire a carrier than players who have chosen to play in manners that get them a lot of credits per time playing. Sometimes that's a choice in activity, and in rare instances it's a matter of being better at the gameplay involved. Limiting your game time is also going to increase the real world time it takes to acquire a carrier.
The idea of if different activities are fairly rewarded in credits is irrelevant to carriers.
The idea that every player regardless of how they play should have everything available in the game within their grasp is most definitely not fair though.
There exists no reality where a time limited player participating in the same game loops that everyone else is should not take longer in real time to achieve goals and collect rewards. And there is nothing about carriers that would restrict that longer time from being impractical to that player. And there is positive gameplay value in that being the case for certain items like carriers.
Where the game falls flat on it's face is that it provides no game loops where a time limited player who may have decent skill, can leverage that mastery of the game to achieve goals in less time by participating in more complex (harder) game loops in the various roles the game has.
So the game is unfair to players with time restrictions. But the solution that is often implied by such complaints is to buff or nerf the existing game loops in a way that only damages existing gameplay (or reducing it). The real solution is that additional skill based game loops are needed to be layered on the roles in the game so that "time to play" isn't a sole determining factor in reaching goals and objectives.
To clarify you can dock all your ships on the fleet carrier and then jump across the universe with the fleet carrier? That would be a benefit. I just traveled 21,000 LY in my anaconda then had to pay to transport all my combat modules and another ship to the new location.
Exactly that, your whole inventory always jumps with the carrier.
I have another question. I should know the answer but I don't. My goal was to become elite in combat which I accomplished but I never concerned myself as much with credits as with leveling up to elite. My method of getting credits is assassination missions and massacre missions and I accomplish that by leveling up with a faction at a station to the point where I'm allied. That's when I get the most lucrative missions. Problem is once you complete the missions the best missions aren't as frequent. Nearby systems tend to have the same factions. How far away do I need to get from the system to get new factions?
Considering that 5 Billion credits is just a lifetime rent in effect - we certainly don't own them - then why not allow people a different rental agreement? I.e. for 250,000,000 you get to rent one for three months, or something like that. That would give many more people the chance to play with FC and see if it truly offers additional gameplay they might enjoy. Or perhaps they rent one just for a specific event or personal goal. I.e. one guy rents it for a group activity, but gets reimbursed by other player via the FC commodity pricing options.
FDev do need to sort the whole FC clutter issue though where certain places are off-limited due to too many parked FCs in the system.
For me, I like having the FC as a Home Base with all my ships and stored modules kept there. Carrier ownership was a lot more simplistic than I was expecting, and many of the outfitting options desperately need work, so it didn't have the utility I was hoping for. It works fine as the aforementioned base though.
Personally, I quite liked the idea of static player-owned (really owned) Outposts and the like, both space and planet. Having a "cheap" (relatively-speaking) surface installation to call home and house your stuff would be sorta cool. However, there would need to be more utility to having such things and clutter is once again an issue. Having such things instanced for everyone wouldn't work...but I don't know how it could be handled.
FDev do need to sort the whole FC clutter issue though where certain places are off-limited due to too many parked FCs in the system.
For me, I like having the FC as a Home Base with all my ships and stored modules kept there. Carrier ownership was a lot more simplistic than I was expecting, and many of the outfitting options desperately need work, so it didn't have the utility I was hoping for. It works fine as the aforementioned base though.
Personally, I quite liked the idea of static player-owned (really owned) Outposts and the like, both space and planet. Having a "cheap" (relatively-speaking) surface installation to call home and house your stuff would be sorta cool. However, there would need to be more utility to having such things and clutter is once again an issue. Having such things instanced for everyone wouldn't work...but I don't know how it could be handled.
I got to the point where having a carrier was the next logical step. I had a fair sized fleet but wasn't happy with the port I was based out of at the time.
At that point the first Colonia Bridge CG kicked off so I got my first carrier at a discount.
I set up a couple of alts during the Winking Cat stuff and they initially stayed aboard my carrier while I set them up (one is an exploration account, the other was supposed to be a combat focused account but it didn't work out that we) The carrier proved useful transferring credits and shifting them where they needed to be. Whilst the exploration account left the Bubble the other alt stayed put but quickly outgrew the carrier. As credits were flowing nicely I was able to fund a carrier for the alt so now I have 2 and I'm preparing to get another pair at the console-pc transfer.
At that point the first Colonia Bridge CG kicked off so I got my first carrier at a discount.
I set up a couple of alts during the Winking Cat stuff and they initially stayed aboard my carrier while I set them up (one is an exploration account, the other was supposed to be a combat focused account but it didn't work out that we) The carrier proved useful transferring credits and shifting them where they needed to be. Whilst the exploration account left the Bubble the other alt stayed put but quickly outgrew the carrier. As credits were flowing nicely I was able to fund a carrier for the alt so now I have 2 and I'm preparing to get another pair at the console-pc transfer.
no i do not agree, if anything they should be +3x the cost or more (crowding). But slightly cheaper to run.
Regarding players not having time to get one. You probably shouldnt have one then. If you absolutely insist on getting one join a group that will fund it for you. A wing can raise that kind of money in a week.
Regarding players not having time to get one. You probably shouldnt have one then. If you absolutely insist on getting one join a group that will fund it for you. A wing can raise that kind of money in a week.
i aim to please.That's funny!!
Precisely
Why would the game do that?
IT would offer the possibility for a player with high skill and lots of time to get way too much credits.
I wouldn't say that.
I would say however, the game offers more to the players that spend more time in game - which is only fair
One cannot really expect to spend 2 hours per week in the game and get the same level of achievements as someone that spends 20h in game
I remember how ld built and engineered a miner python. She's a medium cargo now. But at the time when you mined laser normally, painite at the time, you maxed out cargo checked inara for the best price and boom 10 mins later your 200+ Mill better off. Solo ensures no risk from pvpers/gankers.
Could easily do 2 or more In an evening.
Raised billions doing just that.
If you want a carrier. Laser mine. With occasional subsurface as required.
Platinum is or was, Op atm.
The alternative , slower but way more fun, is to raise the funds deep core mining. Targeting alexandrite etc.
All you need is a pristine metal rich ring
Could easily do 2 or more In an evening.
Raised billions doing just that.
If you want a carrier. Laser mine. With occasional subsurface as required.
Platinum is or was, Op atm.
The alternative , slower but way more fun, is to raise the funds deep core mining. Targeting alexandrite etc.
All you need is a pristine metal rich ring
So? A player with high skill should get more rewards than players with less. And within a bracket of similar skill, the player with more time would get more rewards across all skill levels.
What you may be seeking is a means of capping rewards. For that, we would have to convert the rewards needed for expensive in-game items we would expect only players who have mastered the game to have acquired into something that is limited and can't be stockpiled in unlimited quantities like credits can.
And while my posts have mentioned two tiers of difficulty basically, there is nothing stopping there from being many more tiers. As long as what we're measuring as difficulty is actual needed skill/aptitude and not fdev's goto of "time and repetition"
But I think what you are wanting is a change in currency to something that is capped to mitigate the benefit enjoyed by players who have unlimited free time.
This capping would be something i'd accomplish by a semi-long cooldown of activity history ... which would lead to ever increasingly difficult opposition of a given activity. Naturally capping that player's participation in repeating that activity in a given time frame. So while this wouldn't stop a player with infinite free time from accruing way more rewards, it forces them to stop farming a single thing they may be very good at and will force them to do other things they may be less efficient at doing ...as opposed to a hard limit that may end up just forcing the player to stop playing for a period of time. Which isn't good.
No, it's only fair if we're talking about a single skill level of players. A player who has taken the effort to master the game is still heavily undermined by time because regardless of skill level, the activities everyone is doing is the same with the same access to rewards. A player who has mastered the game mechanic only improves efficiency of time doing those activities for the most part. But that is overcome easily by players who can spend a few hours more in the game per session or have more sessions.
A single tier of activities like elite has favors time spent far more than skill and proficiency in the game.
A proper game would certainly make it possible to have a 2 hour session involving a complex / difficult task be equivalent to 20 hours grinding safe/risk-free mindless activities.
ex. killing a boss level opponent may take only a couple minutes and require certain achievements to even access but it's a different/unique task requiring different actions than regular opponents and much skill to avoid dying. The reward is great though. Acquiring the same amount of reward may take hours of killing the entry level enemies that populate regular parts of the level that are accessible to all players. In other words, grinding your way to riches doing the easiest activities would be impractical.
If elite had such skill based activities and not just rinse and repeat grind activities, things could similarly be balanced. Eliminating the lopsided imbalance caused by time to play we currently have in the game and normalize it to something that makes sense. Sure, players with more time will acquire more than those who dont, but it would be in relation to the given activity that player with tons of free time is doing and the higher tiers would make it extremely unlikely someone spending even tons of time grinding easy activities would match what a player who is awesome at the game can accomplish if they're participating in a much harder and riskier activity.
Apparently they have stopped new development for consoles so I suspect we are going to have to make the best of what we have which in my opinion is a great game.
I played the original and this barely resembles that game.
I haven't mined much except to get stuff to unlock engineers. I'd like to see a more detailed mining description. My problem is I get to an area and most of the asteroids don't have what I'm looking for and I run out of prospector limpets before I can get a big haul.
My method of making credits is massacre missions in systems with a compromised nav beacon. If I have enough ingredients to synthesize small munitions I can just camp there and complete several missions in a couple hours. with bounty money added it is profitable.
I'd do mining if it was more profitable but I haven't been as successful at that. I got a python specifically for mining but it isn't working as well as I would prefer.
The cost to purchase and maintain a FC is just fine, they are not meant for everyone, some of us can put in the time to make it work, others can't or refuse to.
this is a common problem in the world nowadays, where those that never bothered to put in the extra work for anything THINK that they should have the things that
this is a common problem in the world nowadays, where those that never bothered to put in the extra work for anything THINK that they should have the things that